The Two of Them
by Amledo
Summary: A glitch in reality brings the Tenth Doctor into the Eleventh's TARDIS. Eleven/Ten slight shounen-ai, nothing more than kissing. Yes, this technically merits 'selfcest' but it is more about comfort than anything.


(A/N: Yay! More Doctor Who. I don't own it, and I don't make money from it. Anyway, I'm not truly sure what this is, but I hope you like it. I just sort of let it happen. I guess you'd call it 10/11 or selfcest on the Doctor's part, though it's more just for comfort's sake. Eh, read it and let me know what you thought.)

The Two of Them

"He's me and I'm him. I know that it doesn't make much sense, but I've explained the whole regeneration thingy before…no wouldn't do you any good knowing when it makes no sense for him to be here. But anyway, this is what I looked like practically five minutes before I met you Amelia," the Doctor said with a flourish of one hand and a smile, his other arm slung around the waist of his previous incarnation. There was a glorious smile that bloomed over the shorter Doctor's face when the taller snuck an arm around his shoulders in a companionable completion of the half-embrace. He rarely got to meet himself, and it was so much like simply meeting a separate Time Lord that he almost got giddy.

"There are two of you. And he's you, but from the past? How can that happen?" Amy was confused as she stared between the two men. She clung to Rory for some semblance of gravity in a reality that really didn't make much sense. But with all that she had seen, two Doctors didn't seem all that unrealistic, though it did seem to break his rules about doubling back on timelines. Not to mention, they were both gorgeous and they were more or less hugging.

"Happens on the odd occasion. Localized paradox, or something of the sort, a stable instability in space and time. Kinda like a rip or a crack but less threatening. It's responsible for déjà vu and ghosts. It's normally not dangerous and the manifestations aren't usually as potent."

"But we're Time Lords; we're more stable because of our biology. Our ability to regenerate makes it more realistic, more common for us to meet ourselves without causing irreparable damage to the fabric of reality."

"I am still just an echo, more like a captured moment. So…In a way I'm more him than me. I'm…sort of updated, a flash of something created from his mind and a rip in reality. It's happened before, but I'm not really…well real. And the rip has to be fixed eventually."

"So, you'll just…fade away?" Rory's voice was hesitant as his mind worked to wrap his mind once more around the strangeness of the alien he traveled with. He felt Amy at his side as an anchor and realized that she hadn't closed her mouth since the other man had sort of popped up next to the Doctor. Albeit the last time a strange man had just showed up in the TARDIS they'd died twice. But if the other man was just the Doctor from the past then there was no way that he could be intending to harm them.

"Yes, he will. Which is why I've got to get you out of the TARDIS. You'll have to go home for a bit, so I can sort this one out," the Doctor, the one Amy considered to be _her _Doctor began to program the TARDIS and soon the other joined him, going through the motions, resulting in a much more smoothly flown TARDIS. Rory was the first to draw the connection, and he knew that Amy's mind was still playing out all the possibilities of the two Doctors. But that really didn't bother him as much as he thought it would.

"You mean, it's dangerous for us to be here because of him?" Rory questioned and two sets of eyes looked up at him with concern.

"Very."

"Very, very," the Doctors said and with the usual wheeze and complaint, the TARDIS landed them in Leadworth.

"See you in a bit Ponds," the Doctor says and the doors close behind them without ceremony.

"Well, this hasn't happened in awhile. So…what should we do about this? I mean, I rather liked being you…" the Eleventh Doctor stated calmly looking his Tenth incarnation over with a soft smile and a sigh of regret. He really hadn't wanted to go, but it was true what he'd said, he was almost an entirely different man, and his Tenth form was dead.

"Oh, I thought it was brilliant, being me. But you're pretty good too. It's so weird though, you looking so young," Ten said softly and his fingers splayed lightly over Eleven's jaw. He still retained that which made him different from his next incarnation, and that was enough for a decent conversation. It would be a nice change of pace from the Ponds or even talking at himself.

"Yeah, I don't quite like the chin. It seems a bit, you know, large. But at least I don't have the ears anymore," Eleven said, indicating with his fingers pressed behind his ears just how little he'd liked his Ninth body.

"Yeah, those were bad. You're much better though. I do rather like the look of you. Not a bad face to have," Ten said, still contemplating, a small smirk on his lips as he inspected what was more or less himself. Eleven smiled faintly and pulled the other man into an embrace, sighing with relief as Ten's arms returned the hug, it was comforting to feel another twin heartbeat. Leaning his head against Ten's chest, Eleven listened to the sound, letting it fill his mind with a comfort that he hadn't known in ages. Ten's fingers raked through floppy brown hair and both men remained in place, content.

"You're comfortable," Eleven said softly, when the embrace had lingered too long.

"Nah, but I did get pretty good at the being there for people sort of thing. You've got your Ponds though, you can talk to them you know. Even without me saying it, I know you know it," Ten said, squeezing his future self tightly around the shoulders, resting his chin on the smaller man's head. There's a strange sort of tingle, like an electric shock that comes from touching a form of himself outside of his own body, but it's strangely wonderful.

"I know. But I wouldn't want to burden them with the things that run through my mind," Eleven replied, breathing in the achingly familiar scent and smiling at it. Already the body against his began to feel less substantial, not in any real way, but in a way undefinable by touch alone.

"Someday it will get better. Someday. Remember though, I'm proud to call you me," Ten said sweetly and pressed a compassionate kiss to his future self's forehead. Eleven smiled, as though it was the best compliment that he could have received and hesitantly kissed the other man's cheek.

"Thank you," the smaller man whispered a burden of self-loathing that he hadn't realized he was carrying seeming to fade from his mind. Unexpectedly, Ten's lips crashed into Eleven's in a kiss that was definitely not chaste or hesitant. Nonetheless Eleven found himself responding; they always did end up attracted to, well, themselves. Gentle kisses turned more desperate as Ten's body began to become more insubstantial, straining to remain anchored in reality. He was still solid, and Eleven clung to that, tears seeping down his cheeks as he desperately held on. This was what he hadn't wanted Amy and Rory to see, the way he always clung to the figments that sparked from his mind. He didn't want them to think him weird, and he didn't think that they could understand that they really were different men.

"Don't cry, love," Ten whispered, his lips ghosting over Eleven's, his own eyes had gone misty, but he was putting on a brave face. Their lips met again, more tenderly and Eleven knew then that Ten was about to fade. He sealed their mouths together in a kiss, even as his fingers began to lose grip and the body that wrapped around his went translucent. Still, they didn't part, and they never did, Ten faded entirely from Eleven's arms and yet he still felt as though the other man was twined around him. The warmth that that generated in his hearts was enough for the moment to put the smile back on his face for his next adventure with the Ponds.

(A/N: Ok, so tell me what you thought. I feel lately like the Doctor needs validation, and who better to seek it from than the man he trusts the most?)


End file.
